National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 24

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Today’s stories include periphery points of view, type 2 fun, night hikes gone awry, assisting in a kidnapping and snoring wolves. Bonus stories available for Outsiders on Patreon!We love our National Parks and we know you do too but when you're out there, remember to enjoy the view but watch your back. Please take a moment to rate and subscribe from wherever you’re listening to NPAD! Become part of our Outsider family on Patreon to gain access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more. Follow our socials Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. To share a Trail Tale, suggest a story, access merch, and browse our book recommendations - head over to our website.Thank you so much to our partners, check them out!Apostrophe: Use our link and code NPAD to get for first visit for only $5. Miracle Brand: Use our link and code NPAD to save over 40% and get 3 free towels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Focus. Listen to work getting done with Monday.com. Relax. As AI does the manual work, while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform, so flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.

Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress.

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another Trail Tales episode. This is Trail Tales 24. We've had so many good stories that are sent in. I know. Lucky number 24. That's my favorite number 24. Is it? Yeah. Why? I don't, I wouldn't even say it's lucky. Nothing lucky has ever happened to me with that. But it, I don't know. I've always liked it. And it's my dad's birthday. My dad's birthday was April 24th. And I just, I don't know. I just like it, I guess. It's your number.

It is my number. Well, since it's your number, do you want to go first? Yeah, sure. So I have one that actually ties into a story I did a couple months ago. So the title to this story is End of Watch, Mount Rainier National Park, Personal Account from the Periphery. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I have been a fan of the show since you did the episode about Dry Tortuga's National Park. As the daughter of someone who worked as part of the search and rescue team at Mount Rainier,

I grew up listening to Survival and Wilderness Tales. I could never get enough. I just finished listening to your episode about Margaret Anderson in the events that happened on New Year's Day, 2012. When I saw that come into my feed today, it was a little bit like a sucker punch to the gut. I had to listen right away. And after I was finished listening to the episode,

I felt compared to share my experience of that day as someone on the periphery of those events. I was a senior in high school living in Ashford, about 10 minutes from the paradise entrance of Mount Rainier, National Park. My boyfriend at the time, now husband, yeah, we are high school sweethearts, it's cute, was visiting me and my family at my home for the first time. We had stayed up till midnight playing cards until the new year and we were enjoying a slow morning. The first sign anything was amiss was when we saw slash heard a cop speeding past the house. We lived directly

on Highway 706 up to the park. That was odd in and of itself since our town was too small for police force and on the border of two counties. You would maybe see a county sheriff twice in a year. Then another law enforcement car roared by from a different agency and then another. This is when we knew something big was happening. My dad had retired from the park a few years before, but was still on call for search and rescues. Soon the call came in. He pulled on his uniform and headed towards the park. At this point, my recollection gets a little fuzzy as to the order of events. I think we knew a Ranger had been killed, but not who. Either way, we knew something big was happening. We waited for hours, calling friends and neighbors, sharing news as soon as any of us got it. My town still exists

because of its proximity to Mount Rainier. Several other towns died as the logging industry died in the area, but tourism in the park keeps Ashford alive. Everyone knows everyone and everyone either works for the park service, a guide service, or catering to the tourists. We all knew people trapped at paradise or actively searching for someone who had killed a ranger. We waited for hours praying and hoping that my dad would be okay. Dad did come home late that night. He had been stationed in a remote area designated for helicopters. I'm not exactly sure where it was, but I remember him describing how he was all alone for a large portion of time, hoping the gunman wouldn't seek shelter in the outbuilding he was working in. He described it as spooky and a bit scary, which coming from my macho man dad was

absolutely terrifying. My dad went back early the next morning to aid in the search. We were all relieved when we finally got word that the gunman had been found dead. Dad got to come back home. However, the mark of that day was evident everywhere. My town was mourning for a very long time. I didn't know Margaret personally, but I know people who did and were devastated. For me, it was one of the first times I experienced true fear over a loved one coming home. It also tainted the place I loved. The mountain that had always felt like a safe place. Sure, nature has teeth, and I heard enough stories to respect it, but I had never feared people there before. I never hitchhiked trailheads again, and I never looked at that patch of road the same way. I had just been snowshoeing a couple days before,

and even being on the periphery, the day still shook me. However, one lighter story did come out of this event, and I would like to share it too. While watching out the window for my dad's return, our town didn't have cell service at the time, we noticed a see and CNN van parked at the end of our driveway. It was there for some time, so we went out to investigate and found out this journalist was there using our Wi-Fi. Again, no cell reception, and there's one coffee shop with Wi-Fi that was closed. We invited the reporter in for breakfast and gave him some space in our home to write and wait for reports. It was a great way to keep our minds off of Dad and potentially learned some more news. After he got word that the gunmen had been found,

he started packing up, but in thanks for our hospitality, he gave us this really nice CNN coat. I'm talking, gortex, and well insulated. Everyone in the family took turns trying on the coat, but it didn't fit any of us. So my parents decided to put it in an auction raising money for my high school. For three years, I never thought of that coat again. Fast forward three years, I'm living up in Bellingham, Washington, about five hours north of Mount Rainier going to school at Western Washington University. I'm waiting at the bus stop for an 8 a.m. class, and another person joins me at the bus stop. We had met before at a house party and I decided to chit-chat while waiting. During the conversation, I noticed his coat had a CNN logo on it and asked if he had family that worked for

CNN. He said no, his friend had given it to him. When he said his friend's name, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It's a common enough name, but I won't share it for anonymity reasons. I had a feeling there was something more. So I asked his friend's last name. I knew one of my classmates with that last name who had an older brother that also went to Western. I asked if his friend had a younger brother, and he said yes. It turns out his friend's parents had bought the jacket at the auction and given it to their older son. He in turn gave it to his roommate, who was standing right next to me at the bus stop this very morning. I called my parents as soon as I got out of classes that day, and we had a good laugh at the crazy coincidence. It helped lift the memory

of the sadness and anxiety of that day just a bit. Anyways, thank you for sharing Margaret's story. I sent in an anonymous suggestion to your forum when I first started listening to the podcast about her story. I don't know if that had any impact on this episode, but as much as it was shocking that day, I think it's important to remember Margaret and to share her sacrifice for protecting people and our national parks. Thank you for all the tales you share. I no longer directly live in the shadow of the park, and I miss being part of that community. Your stories help me feel a little closer to that time in my life. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. P.S. Sledding at Mount Rainier is great. My dad used to create the runs in the 80s, and even after he was promoted out of that position,

we would go up every winter to sled. It's a long run with gorgeous mountain views to look at while you trudged to the top of the run. You should totally go once it's open again. But make sure to leave early if you want to find a parking spot. And then there was no name signed at the end. Well, thank you so much for sharing that story. No such thing as coincidences, first of all. And also, I just think it's so, like, it's so important to see that these crimes that are committed are, it's not just the crime. So many people are affected by it. And I think that this story of someone's personal experience with what happened went so much farther than what happened just to Margaret. I mean, what happened to Margaret spiraled into what happened to her father and her family and her community. And for years,

other people that were affected by it. And I think that that's just an important thing to think about. Absolutely. And, you know, whenever somebody writes in about a story that we've covered, we feel the same way each and every time. Well, my story is titled, chased out of the back country by a wildfire. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. First of all, let me say that I have worked as a vet assistant in a Wild Raptor Rehabilitation Center, and I appreciate you, too, for all that you do. I empathize with sticking thermometers and strange orifices and taking fecal samples. But beyond that, I know that working in animal medicine can be incredibly demoralizing,

and I just wanted to say your work is incredibly impactful, and you should never doubt your worth. Thank you. It's very nice. So many strange orifices, yeah. My story takes place in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. The BWCA is one of the largest wilderness areas in the lower 48, and it is a truly incredible place. In order to understand the story, I'll need to explain a little bit about how recreation works here. The area itself is composed of nearly 2,000 lakes that are connected by trails.

There is zero development, no homes or businesses. The only way to travel through the area is by canoe. In order to do this, you have to do something called a portage. A portage is when you take all of your gear out of your canoe, load yourself up with your packs, and then flip the entire canoe upside down and balance it on your shoulders as you hike. This is how you travel between the lakes. Most canoes range between 40 to 80 pounds, and combined with the weight of your packs, it's about as grueling as it sounds.

Some people think the BWCA is one of the best kept secrets of outdoor recreation in America. But I think it's too physically challenging to be much of a draw for the masses. Anyway, this story takes place in August of 2021. My friend Kail and I had planned a seven-day trip through the boundary waters, covering about 100 miles. It was day six, and so far everything had been going amazingly. The weather had been perfect. We had gotten the campsites we wanted,

and we had avoided any major catastrophes. This was kind of an anomaly for us, because over the years, our annual outdoor adventures always went horribly wrong, somehow. Extreme weather, sickness, and other funship beyond our control, always made an appearance. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked that we had seemed to escape the curse this time, but oh boy, were we wrong. The day started normally. We got up early and beat the wind and had paddled and portaged for about eight hours before reaching the last lake we were going to camp at. We got a great sight in a small bay. It was about 3 p.m. and the wind was just starting to pick up. But the sun was

shining and we decided to set up camp and go for swim. We were relaxing in the cool water when I noticed something on the horizon. Maybe a mile or two away, towards the lake we had come from, a dark plume of smoke was slowly ballooning over the land. I pointed it out to kale and we both observed for about five minutes as it grew bigger and bigger. We were aware of the risk of wildfires that season, but the route that we were in was a good distance away from any active fires and we hadn't been too worried about it. Unsure of what to do, we decided to check in on our quote-unquote neighbors and hopped in the canoe. We paddled to the two other campsites around the lake, and the folks at both of them seemed very unconcerned.

The Rangers will notify us if there's a problem, they all said. The thing about the BWCA, though, is that there is no cell service and no way to travel into the area other than with a canoe and with your own muscles. So I wasn't exactly sure how they thought the Rangers would notify them. At this point, the plume had quadrupled in size and was taking up a good portion of the sky. We returned to our site and deliberated. We could try to stay the night and hope the wind wouldn't bring the fire to our area, or we could face the grueling six-hour journey out of the wilderness area and back to the outfitter, which we rented our gear from. After much consideration, we thought, what would our mothers want us to do?

And that was the deciding factor. We quickly packed up our camp, loaded the canoe, snapped a quick selfie with a growing smoke plume in the background and started on our way. I've always thought the outdoor recreation is only fun when you're choosing to do it. Being forced to camp, backpack, or climb in order to escape a bad situation is not so fun. Or maybe it could be considered type 2 fun. If you haven't heard of this, type 1 fun is the stuff in the moment and type 2 fun is the stuff that's not at all fun in the moment, but it is fun to look back on. There was definitely a lot of type 2 fun happening. We paddled in portaged and paddled and portaged. It could have been really demoralizing.

But we were hyping each other up and cracking jokes the whole time to lighten the mood. Normally, we would have taken a break or two to rest our muscles or have a snack. But every time we look behind us at the encroaching smoke and the red in sky, we decided to haul ass instead. After possibly the longest day of my life, we hit the shore of the Outfitter around 9 p.m. For a total of 14 hours of paddling and portaging in one day. We basically crawled to the car and loaded up our gear, not exactly sure where we were going. Just in case you thought it couldn't get worse, an intense thunderstorm rolled in right after this.

We ended up camping on a pull-off on the side of the highway, eating a sad dinner of pop-tarts in the rain and crawling into a wet tent to sleep. The next day, we learned that the area we had camped in had to be evacuated early that morning around 5 a.m. as the wildfire swept in. Thankfully, everyone was able to get out safe and uninjured. We drove to town and ate the most delicious tacos I've ever tasted. I still have nothing but love for the area and will always go back. It is truly a magical place. But I am so glad that we decided to get out of there when we did. If I learned anything from this experience is that everyone should have a quality adventure buddy.

And if you're ever in doubt, ask yourself what your mom would do. Thanks for reading my story and keep up the good work, Kenzie. P.S. I've attached a selfie we took with the wildfire before evacuating. Had to get the selfie in. Gotta have the proof. Pixir didn't happen. And you got the picks. So I guess we'll believe you. 14 hours in one day of hard-ass work.

Yeah. I can imagine how tired you would be. But it turned out to be a really good decision. And trust your gut. Listen to your mom's, the voice of your mom in your head, their advice. They're always right. I mean, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session.

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The Krispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy. Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me, and baby, I'm a whole meal.

And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet. No. Krisby, saucy, and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley 3-62326, participating stores only while supplies lastly app for full terms. Okay, I have something completely different.

And it is titled Bigfoot attacked Nighthike Gone Wrong. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I've been a huge fan of your podcast for a while now. I've listened to every episode and recommended it to everyone I talked to. I've sported your merch to Iceland and a ton of natural areas here in the U.S. Thank you for all you do to promote responsible recreation. Thank you. I work as an environmental educator, so I hyper-prepure for every outdoor excursion,

which doesn't tend to make interesting stories. There's no way I could have prepared for what I am about to tell you, though. February is a tough time to run programs for nature centers in the Midwest. We can't rely on snow or lack of it. There aren't any flowers, animal activity slows down, the weather can be really gross, the list goes on. When I was scheduling programs for February last year, I knew I had to plan something that would be a big draw to the public and work well no matter the weather. Being a cryptid lover, I immediately thought of scheduling a Bigfoot hike. How hard could it be, I thought.

I started writing up a draft of the program. We'd start at the Nature Center with some exposition and general introduction to Bigfoot. Along the way, we'd pause for Bigfoot related activities. We would measure our stride length and compare it to Bigfoot, use hand lenses to investigated, planted, fur, and tracks, listen for howls, do some wood knocks, and then call it a night. I even roped in my husband and friend into dawning mismatched pieces of animal costumes to stand in for Bigfoot in the forest.

And I was getting excited. This is dedication. I really appreciate the dedication to this. I was careful with how I advertised the program. I wanted it to be a fun, campy, and not super serious. I wanted people attending the hike to know we were goofing around and that we weren't actually going to find Bigfoot that night. It was supposed to be a fun way to get people outside,

practice some real animal tracking techniques, and enjoy cryptozoology together. I mean, sign me up. Like, I know this is far in the past. Like, I don't know. But are you doing this again? Yeah, like, I don't even know where this story is going right now. I've read it a long time ago.

So I'm like, I'm surprised, too, as I read. but this is amazing. Okay. That's not exactly what happened, though. Okay, well, it's already falling apart. The night of the program came and I was ready. I had a folder stuffed with Bigfoot facts, pictures, and stories. I had all of the gear tucked away in my backpack and a list of program attendees. I wore a goofy hat and vest, looking every bit a dorky nature guide. A lot of familiar faces started showing up, but one newcomer in the group stood out to me. He looked like a standard Midwestern man, but I couldn't help staring at his massive metal. flashlight and stern expression. Wow, you're really prepared for the dark, I joked, trying to break the ice. Yeah, this thing is really bright, but it's actually a combat flashlight.

I use it for self-defense, he began, his expression growing even more intense. I don't mess around with Bigfoot. We got a real believer out there. He's like, no, we're going to see Bigfoot tonight. He's, he is also prepared. It's not just her going into this. Yeah. I definitely picked up on the vibe that this guy believed in Bigfoot and was not coming into this hike expecting a goofy, campy vibe. Maybe I can help him figure it out, I thought to myself, as I tried to steer the conversation into a new direction. Yeah, he is pretty tough. Luckily, all the Bigfoot around here are super tame, I said with a wink. There were kids around after all. No, one time Bigfoot attacked my campsite in Minnesota. He was huge and the sounds he made. The man continued on with his Bigfoot

encounter and I knew I was going to have to be careful with how I led this hike from now on. After all, my husband was already stationed in the woods, ready to howl and portray his very best Bigfoot. Oh God, I'm nervous. I didn't want this man to attack him with his combat flashlight, but I also didn't want him to blow up at us for leading a fake Bigfoot hike. He seemed very prepared to attack something. I immediately texted my husband and friend, don't howl.

Don't run across the trail. Stay out of sight until I tell you it's safe. Then I gathered my wits and led the most convincing, campy, elaborate Bigfoot program I possibly could. Along the way, the man was telling me about BFRO retreats and trying to test my knowledge about Bigfoot. Thank goodness I've watched every episode of finding Bigfoot. He seemed convinced by me at least.

If all went well, we would finish the hike with him still convinced that we were real Bigfoot believers and just simply didn't find Bigfoot that night. We got back to the spot where the group was supposed to howl and Bigfoot was supposed to howl back. I was hoping, though, our Bigfoot's would stay silent. Surely, this guy would recognize a human howl versus a Bigfoot one if he had heard Bigfoot before. I gathered the group for a howl, crossing my fingers behind my back, and trying my best to make Bobo from finding Bigfoot proud.

Lo and behold, our Bigfoot howled back. I felt my stomach twist itself into a knot. They hadn't gotten my text. Of course they did. Of course they didn't. They're just blissfully unaware. Yeah. We continued down the trail doing some wood knocks along the way.

The other participants were laughing, exchanging knowing looks, and having a grand old time. The man was using his combat flashlight to scan the woods for Bigfoot. To say I was tense is an understatement. Sure enough, following our original plan, my husband burst out onto the trail in front of us and crossed from one side to the other. In the dark and at a distance, he actually looked pretty convincing. He wore a mask, fur costume, and gloves. He even mastered the Bigfoot run.

The only problem were his bright white sneakers that's shown in the beam of the combat flashlight. My heart was racing. I didn't know if the man was going to believe it was Bigfoot and attack my husband, or see it wasn't Bigfoot and attack me. That doesn't look like my Minnesota Bigfoot, he started. Oh, yeah, well, there's a lot of variety of Bigfoot phenotypes, I said uneasily. His shoulders were a lot narrower, he continued. Well, this area is actually known to have a lot of juvenile Bigfoot, I replied, pulling from an episode of finding Bigfoot.

Sorry. This is so funny. I can't. This is so funny. I'm trying to, like, stay, like, enroll here, but it's really hard. Okay. Huh. Never seen one of them before, he shrugged and turned around to follow the rest of the group back to the center.

I nodded and clung to this as a tentative win. I think the heads of the hikers in front of him must have blocked the sight of my husband's shoes. He continued the rest of the hike with the same solid belief that I was a real Bigfoot expert and that we really had Bigfoot's at our preserve. He left with a smile and thanked us for our work. As soon as he was gone, I took the first real breath in what felt like ours. Somehow, we pulled off a Bigfoot program that convinced a believer and entertained all of the other non- or semi-believers on the hike.

No bigfoot's or hike leaders were harmed during this event, and everyone seemed to have a great time. With one precarious success under our belt, we decided not to lead another Bigfoot hike for a long while. Wait, so did you? Or was there just like a little hiatus? My husband agreed that he wasn't ready to go back out on the front lines either. The man hasn't returned to our center since, and I can only hope that he's enjoying the darkness of a forest somewhere out there looking for Bigfoot. You're welcome to shorten or amend the story however you'd like, even if it doesn't make it on to the podcast, I hope it gives you both a good laugh. Thank you, Andrea, she, her.

Andrea. Clapped all around. That was fucking awesome. Your acting skills are just like on par there. Well, and your writing skills. Like, I felt like I was there. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I know everything was fine if you're writing it in, but it's just so funny.

And like... The moment where she's like, it's like, oh yeah, there's juveniles around here. Like, you held your, like, that act through thick and thin. There was nothing breaking. This was Bigfoot. And you were going to make this guy believe it. Well, and it's kind of like, I'm so torn because on one hand with that guy, it's like, I'm sure he read the room and understood that this group and this thing was like not super serious.

And that he was. It's a bunch of kids. Kids and nonbelievers. And like just like, like she said, it was clearly she went out of a. way to make it seem like campy and like fun and like kind of lighthearted. Yeah. And then this guy comes in like ready to go. But on the other hand, it's kind of like let him do his thing. Who cares? Like let him have his time. As long as he's not literally attacking her husband. Well, he didn't though. He didn't. Like he was just having a good night. And like I just, I think she walked a good line of like not

raining on anyone's parade by being like, okay, you know this is a joke, right? Like she, honored what his stance and his belief while also trying to like let him know gently like this is not a super serious thing please do not attack please do not attack that is my husband he's wearing sneakers anyway i love that story thanks for sending it in yeah okay my next story is titled moose do exist and i have a story i don't believe it but okay go ahead i'm suspicious but hey guys first of all, I would like to say I love your podcast. I get so excited every time a new episode comes out. I was born and raised in Montana, so I have a soft spot for the outdoors. I live in Texas now, but I miss the mountain so much. I was listening to your trail tale story today, and as I was listening to the story about the girl who just wanted to see a moose, my first thought was, ah, I hope she gets to see a moose someday. And then I literally shouted, wait, I have a moose story. I haven't thought about this story in a long time, because I was, oh, I hope she gets to see a moose someday. And then I literally shouted, wait, wait, I have a moose story. I haven't thought about this story in a long time, because it happened when I was about 10 years old. This story takes place in Big Sky, Montana. Every summer, my mom's family would go to a big family reunion, and that summer they all chose to go to Big Sky.

We were all staying in some condos close to a small creek. The creek was kind of down a steep slope covered with trees. Every morning, we could see a beautiful moose mother and her baby walking alongside the back patios of the condos. My dad saw that she was mostly living down the creek bed and he told me, whatever you do, do not go down there. So what did the 10-year-old myself do? You better believe she went down there. However, I didn't go alone. I also dragged my two boy cousins from California with me. As we were walking, we saw where someone had a campfire. And then I walked a little further, and I saw what I thought looked like a burnt log amongst some really tall underbrush. I was confused. I had just seen the campfire, but I didn't understand how there was just one burnt log amongst

the underbrush. So I walked to get a little better of a look, and that's when the burnt log moved. I realized that I wasn't looking at a log at all, but the back of a baby moose. I was only a couple yards away, and just like a scene from a movie, the mother moose came crashing through the bushes, and her giant head was headed straight for me. She was angry. I screamed to my cousins, run! And we all turned around and ran straight back up the rocky hill to the safety of the condos. I remember I was wearing a jean skirt because it was the 90s and that was in style. I literally didn't think I would make it back up. I thought I was going to be trampled by an angry mama moose.

Even though looking back, I'm pretty sure she just charged and stopped because if she would have chased us, there is no way we could have outrun a moose. My cousins were so scared and angry at me. They totally tattled on me and I got in trouble for putting everyone in danger. So lesson learned, when someone warns you about a wild animal in the area, listen. They are wild animals and you never know how they are going to react, especially when their babies are concerned. Thank you for the great educational podcast. I love learning about all the national parks and the stories that have happened in them.

I want to visit them all someday. My personal favorite is Glacier National Park. If you want to share my story, that's great. If not, I hope y'all enjoyed it. Keep up the great work, Josie. I, every single time I hear of someone coming across a baby anything, I get so nervous. Like leave immediately. Like you're in danger.

You know, like, what was that? Was it last year? No. Maybe two years ago or maybe even three. I don't know. What is time anymore? But the viral video of that guy running in the canyon in Utah and he, like, he's filming and he comes across a couple of baby mountain lions.

And at first he was like, oh, like, because he kind of came around a corner and saw them, like out on the trail. And they kind of like run back into the brush. And he's just like, oh. And then all of a sudden, the. the mother mountain lion bursts out at him. And literally, like, I hate saying the word attack because she didn't attack him. She was literally just trying to get him away from her babies for, like, the video is like 20 minutes long of this mother mountain lion, like five feet away from him, snarling, swatting.

Like, I've seen that. And he's walking away from her down the trail. Yep. And he's talking to her like, come down and leaving. Like, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. You finally, I think he like picks up a.

rock and throws it at her eventually. Yeah. But yeah, anytime, any story to do with a baby coming across a baby something, it's like, you know mom's right around the corner and she's pissed. Yeah. Get away. And moose are up there as far as animals to be afraid of running into their babies. These are scary. If moose existed, they would be scary. That's right. We still don't believe you, Josie, but it's fine. Okay, just for the record, we all know. We've both seen moose in real life. Yeah. I've seen them in Wyoming and Alaska. Yeah. So, we're kidding.

Are we kidding? I don't know. But it's just funny. Are we kidding? I don't know. Did we see moose? Were they actually moose? Who knows? Who knows? We do live in a Matrix. So it's up for debate. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, my last one is titled Coming Face to Face with the infamous Yellowstone Wolves. The year was 2009. The shorts were Jean. The minivan was rented. And the entertainment was John Denver and Madlips. Thank you for setting the scene also. Madlibs. I loved Madlips. For road trips? For everything. Oh, okay. It's just so funny. It's like, name an adjective, and you're like, I know what an adjective is. I know. Then you pause, you're like, what is that? I know English. When I was nine years old, after several years of saving, my parents set out to make some memories with their young children. We woke up early, rolled into a rented blue minivan, and settled in for a two-week road trip to Montana. My siblings and I were beyond excited.

The last vacation we took as a family was Disney World in 2004. I'm the youngest of three children. My older brother was 12. My sister was 15. It was going to be an interesting two weeks. Our trip was planned for about two weeks. We would travel from our small home in northeast Ohio all the way to Montana and back. The highlights from this iconic trip were Badlands National Park, the Grand Teton's National Park, the Laura Ingalls Homestead.

my mom and I are huge Laura stands. And of course, the climax of the trip, Yellowstone. This is where my story takes place. Sorry for all the introductions, just wanted to make sure to curate the vibe of the trip. Vibe created. My trail tale takes place in the western gate of Yellowstone National Park in a small campground. My parents had rented a small cabin for the two nights we would be staying in this area of Yellowstone.

The campground was off a rural road and was surrounded on all sides by huge cow pastures. The cabin had two small rooms and the best of the best of the best of the best of the best. bathrooms were down the road a little bit. The three kids were in the room towards the back, and my parents slept in the small room with the entrance. Just outside the back window, where we slept was the fence to the pastures next door. The first night, I slept like a rock, exhausted. However, my brother did not. The next morning, he asked, did you hear anything last night? I shake my head and my sister does the same. He paused. I think I heard wolves last night. I think they ate a cow next door, he said slowly. I paused, look towards my

my older sister because she could tell when my brother was being sarcastic or genuine. Her face didn't change. It looked like he was serious. She just looked at him and said, if you hear it tonight, wake us up. Like clockwork, the next night came and my brother shook us awake. Listen, listen to it. There it is. I think it's killing another cow, he whispered. And that's when we heard it. It was a sickly wheezing sound coming from somewhere outside the room. The noise came and went. It would get louder and louder, the wheezing and waning of a dying animal. I was in shock. We all were. And then silence. My brother looked to us and said, we have to go check it out. I want to see the wolf. Just as he spoke, it started again. He jumped out of bed and we followed. We were going to see this wolf. We crept out of bed

and grabbed the hand at the door that separated ours in our parents' room. We were shocked as the sound got louder and louder the closer and closer we got to the outside. We opened the door, prepared to sneak past our parents. The door opened and we stepped into the room only to be met with the source of the noise. The source was not what we thought, a wolf eating a dying cow, but the source was our beloved father snoring peacefully in his bed. We all sighed and went back to bed. No wolves, just dad snoring. The sound of a dying animal. It's like, have you not heard that before from your dad? Or is it just like because of the vibe and you're like, this has got to be like a wild animal? You know, it's like a different scene.

Yeah. Snores differently when you're on vacation. Yeah. It hits different, you know. It's been about 13 years since that trip out west. I'm now 23 years old. My brother is 26, married with a six-month-old son, and my sister is 29 and married. My parents are still making memories.

Most recently, this summer, they took a trip to Nevada. They went hiking and drove off-road four-wheeler cars through the desert. We still talk about this trip every time we are together. My mother video recorded most of the day. The trip and every few years we sit down together to watch the tapes. We all laugh and reminisce about the memories we made. This trip fueled my family's love for the outdoors. Since this time, my parents have been to another 15 national parks.

I spent time in Wyoming and Alaska hiking. My sister revisited the badlands with her husband last summer, and my father and brother spent time backpacking the Appalachian Trail. Sorry for the long story, but I wanted to pay tribute to my family and the opportunities my parents worked so hard to give to us. They gave us a vacation, yes, but truly they granted us with a lifelong love of the outdoors and a greater love for each other. Love the podcast, keep up the great work, Christina. What a cool story. I love these stories where families take their kids and for years or spending time in the outdoors.

I just think it's so cool. It's such a fun way to spend time with your loved ones. I loved it especially because I have, I feel very similarly. I mean, I didn't have a snoring wolf situation, but I definitely I can totally relate 100% to that first trip just like sparking this love and passion for the outdoors and traveling and spending time with family and like reminiscing on that particular trip you know like I really connected with that so I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sending it in Christina. Yeah, you have the trip that sparked at all. My last story is titled well I should say my last story before we have a couple bonus

Patreon stories that'll just be on Patreon if you want to. listen to them there. But my last story here is titled, I assisted in an attempted kidnapping. Hey y'all. In 2014, I applied for and won a grant to study anywhere in the world. Still crazy to think I had such an amazing opportunity. And I chose to take a conservation biology course throughout South Africa. My best friend Meredith and I joined 10 other high school girls and two instructors on a wild trip. We flew into Johannesburg and spent the next four weeks traveling all across South Africa and Lesotho while learning, volunteering, and exploring. On one such volunteer trip, we stayed in a game reserve among monkeys, giraffes, lions, hyenas,

and more. One morning, after feeding the monkeys, we were called to a new volunteer site. Instead of conducting controlled burns, aka lighting tall grasses on fire and beating them out with large branches, we climbed into the bed of a truck for a bumpy ride across the reserve. Soon we reached a tall fence with barbed wire across the top, marking the edge of the protected land. We stood puzzled for a moment as our guide Lincoln lifted the bottom of the fence and motioned for us to crawl under. Well, here we go. We belly crawled under and were then instructed to remain entirely silent. Our goal today was simple.

Kidnap a giraffe. What? That's right. A bunch of teenage girls were sent to track and herd an adult giraffe back to the same. barbed fence we crawled through. As it turns out, some poachers had chased the giraffe off the property to more easily kill it. In South African law, once an animal is on someone else's property, it becomes their animal, meaning this lanky friend was no longer protected and making this trek a kidnapping. So, with peanut butter sandwiches in hand, for us, not the giraffe, we set into the

bush. We silently made our way through the branches, brambles, and wildflowers for hours until we finally found her. We maneuvered silently around her, staying just far enough away, where she saw us but didn't get spooked. We managed to herd her a mile back to the fence and began work to open the fence so she could run back through. Suddenly, she had enough. This giraffe came sprinting towards us with one goal to get the fuck out. And get the fuck out she did. They say when a giraffe is stampeding towards you, you should lie on the ground and cover your head and neck. I say do what I did. Sprint to the nearest tree and hold on for dear life. She came hurtling by me and I watched as Lincoln jumped in front of her with his arms high to try to dissuade her. Instead, he was given a swift giraffe knee to the face

and fell to the ground unconscious. Oh my God. The giraffe sprinted off and we quickly began attending to Lincoln's thankfully minor injuries. A few minutes later, he popped up and told us to go find her again. Ah, hell no, dude. After eight plus hours of silently following that creature, we had had had enough. We made it back to camp safely as our instructors told us not to tell our parents about this incident. They ended up sedating and moving the giraffe safely back on the property, so have no fear. We went on to have more close encounters with an elephant named riffraff and 60 mile per hour winds while rappelling down a cliff. Somehow we made it home and I love the outdoors even more now. Thank you for encouraging a love for the outdoors and being my podcast friends as I build my own camper van to travel the country.

Hope to be on a trip with y'all soon. so, Lily. Oh my God. That's an experience. Yeah. A giraffe just hurtling at you, stampede, knee to the face, the giraffe knee to the face. I cannot express how much I do not want that to happen to me. Yeah. I can't express it enough. I'll pass. Like, no, thank you. That's a hard pass on my end. Wow. But what a cool experience, though. I mean, that's amazing. That's something like a fact I would share for like two truths and a lie, like type of thing. You know, like a cool fact about yourself. It's like one, I like peanuts.

Two, I got kicked in the face. I got knead in the face by a giraffe. Three, I don't like peanut butter. You don't like peanut butter? Tell me which one's fake. No, I like all those things I made it up. Oh, okay. Like, it's just, it's funny.

Like, which one would you guess? Yeah. Well, thanks everyone for sending them in. Keep them coming. We love reading them and sharing them. Like Cassie said, we have two more available for Patreon. So if you're an outsider, stick around. But otherwise, everyone else, we'll see you next time, whenever next time is Monday, I'm guessing, since that's what we've been doing now for two and a half years.

Or whatever it's been. And enjoy the view. But watch you're back. See ya. Bye. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale you'd like to share, send us an email at NPAD Stories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park.

After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Become an outsider by joining our Patreon where you'll gain access to monthly bonus stories and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our partners, you're supporting our show. To access our special discount codes along with source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For information on the show, to shop our merch store, sign up for our newsletter and more, visit NPAD Podcast.com.

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